Moldovan PM comes up with reaction in context of protests organized by farmers

Chisinau, 14 February /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Dorin Recean today came up with a reaction, in the context of the protests organized by farmers. The official noted that, starting from 2020 so far, about six billion lei (300 million euros) had been allocated for the agricultural sector and the authorities were looking for solutions, in continuation, to support the farmers.  

„I urge you to have respect for all citizens; obviously, we have right to protest, but we should do it to the extent, so as not to affect the rights of other citizens. There is the commitment for us to gradually solve all problems; we allocated money, we limited the imports of cereals; we accelerated the procedure of return of the value added tax (VAT); we earmark additional money for subsidies and we continue to identify financial resources to allocate them to producers. We have constant dialogue with the representatives of the farming sector, as we want to invest in it and turn it profitable. There were more crises and problems; the government committed to identify the means needed to settle at least partially the problems existing in the field,’’ Dorin Recean said.     

The official noted that, starting from 2020 till present, the cabinet had disbursed about six million lei to the agricultural sector. ‘’In 2023, we paid by 1,240 lei for one hectare to 2,161 producers as a result of the crisis from the period 2022-2023. As much as 200 lei is allocated for this programme. Also in 2023, we paid additionally 140 million lei for 3,187 producers, whom we returned the excise duty for diesel. In 2023, the state provided subsidies of 1.6 billion lei, to which the aforementioned 200 million lei and 140 million lei was added. Accordingly, last year, about 2 billion lei was earmarked to the agricultural sector. We sped up the disbursement of the payments from the subsidization fund; we facilitated the use of financial means at the expense of VAT; restrictions were enforced for the import of cereals,’’ the PM also said.     

At the same time, the prime minister specified that, for this year, the subsidization fund stood at about 1.7 billion lei. ‘’Additionally, we also borrowed 1.5 billion lei in order to provide grants worth about one billion lei to the animal husbandry sector and fruit growing. Another 500 million lei will be allocated for the reestablishment of irrigation systems, in order to have a higher productivity in agriculture. So far, 361 million lei has been disbursed on programmes of subsidization of the Agency of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture (AIPA),’’ the prime minister specified.   

The government has recently approved an addition of 50 million lei from the intervention fund for about 400 producers of cereals from the districts of Cahul, Cantemir, Stefan Voda, Leova, Vulcanesti and Taraclia, hit by the drought from the 2023 year. They will receive, on average, 2,500 lei per one hectare, in order to cover the losses caused by the drought.     

Today at 16:00, Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolea is waiting farmers for discussions in Cahul. In the context, on 16 February, a meeting will be held with farmers, chaired by Vladimir Bolea, at the headquarters of the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry.  

In the context of the protests staged by farmers, the road of access to and from the Leuseni-Albita customs checkpoint has been periodically blocked for the third day in a row.